March 4, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: 2 Samuel 24:18-24
Subject: Worship
Title: Worship That Costs
In recent weeks we have been talking about worship and I have stressed to you that worship is more than just singing songs. It actually is about how you live your life. But I want to talk to you today about worship in a congregational sense. What happens when we come together as a church to worship God? The answer to that may be different for each of you, because the way you worship will be determined by who God is in your life.
Three lifelong friends all passed away within a short period of time and as they met together in heaven they were walking and marveling at the beauty.
“Can you believe that these streets are actually paved with gold?” one asked.
“And can you believe all the angels singing and the saints gathered around the throne?” another added.
The third replied, “Can you believe that if it wasn’t for all the oatmeal we ate we could have been here ten years sooner?”
What would happen if we could get a glimpse of heaven right now? How would you respond to the very presence of God?
I think our worship is hindered by 1) our lack of consideration or reflection of who God really is, 2) our understanding of what He has done, 3) our own willingness to enter in and worship in a way pleasing to Him regardless of the cost.
I’m going to focus today on 2 Samuel 24:18-24 and I want to look at worship that costs. My prayer for you today is that as you receive the word your attitude about congregational worship will change so dramatically that the face of worship in this church will never be the same.
Stand with me for the reading of the word.
18On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
22Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23O king, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
24But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
Let’s look at worship that costs.
I. TRUE WORSHIP WILL COST SOME EFFORT. I don’t think that you can truly worship the way God deserves without working at it. We look at the story of the Exodus with the glory cloud in the midst of the camp by day and the pillar of fire by night and we wonder how Israel could complain with the visible presence of God there. Exodus 40:34-38, “34Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.
We look at the religious leaders at the time of Jesus and ask, “How could they not see who Jesus was?” It’s easy for us to look back and point fingers. If only they had looked a little harder they would have known. Be honest with me now; aren’t you saying in your mind that if you had been there you would have known. You would have appreciated the manifest presence of God and would have worshiped accordingly. So what kind of worship would that be? I think for us to see the type of response to God that we should have we need to look at the scenes from heaven. Revelation 4, “8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.”
9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will (for Your pleasure) they were created
and have their being.”
Do you get it? Worship is about who God is and not about singing the songs we like and the style of music we want and going home feeling good about ourselves.
I’ll give you more than a song for a song in itself
Is not what you have required
You search much deeper within than the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You, it’s all about You Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the things I’ve made it
It’s all about You, it’s all about you
For us to worship they way God wants us to we have to make the effort to see God’s nature the way we will see it in heaven.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see.
You’ve received grace now seek His true nature and worship Him.
II. TRUE WORSHIP WILL COST YOU YOUR TIME. – WE can drive through Hardee’s and have a meal in a couple of minutes. KFC takes a little longer. Or you can go to a nice sit down restaurant and order and it takes a little longer but the wait is worth it if you’re not in a hurry. So what type of worship experience are you looking for; Hardee’s, KFC or Applebee’s? Too many churches are “fast food” churches. Let’s get in and get out – just as long as I perform my weekly obligation – that’s all that counts. Let me read to you from the Amplified Bible, Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. Hebrews 12:1-3, “1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. So if we come together to worship as a congregation our focus should not be on the roast in the oven at home, but the bread of life that we are receiving when we step into His presence. In Isaiah 40 the word that is translated “wait” means, “to bind together, to expect: — gather (together), look patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon).” When the prophet Elijah ran away form Jezebel after his victory on Mount Carmel, he hid in a cave. 1 Kings 19, “11The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. If you take time when you worship you can expect the Lord to show Himself.
Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart.
Come just as you are to worship
Come just as you are before your God.
III. TRUE WORSHIP WILL COST YOUR LIFE. I want to go to Romans 12, a passage that I use often, “1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do you get that? Giving yourself to Jesus is worship. How does that translate to corporate worship? I mean, that’s what we’re talking about here. Jesus said in John 4, … “a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” So as we stand together and worship in song press in to God and close your eyes and in your minds eye see only Him on the throne. Give yourself totally to Him and begin to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Paul said we should pray in the Spirit and pray with understanding and sing in the spirit and sing with understanding. So worship involves praying and singing in English and in tongues.I want to take just a moment to say that some will tell you that you don’t have to pray or sing in tongues to pray or sing in the Spirit, but in the context in which Paul was speaking he was definitely making the distinction between common language and tongues. So how sould you worship? Don’t hold anything back. Give it all to Him and move just as close to Him as you can get. Take your finger and probe the nail prints in His hand. See the stripes across His back that are for your healing. See the blood stained cross on which He died. Now step into the throne room of grace where He waits for you to come and bow before.
Worship that doesn’t cost anything isn’t really worship. It’s religion. But the Bible says that we are to give something when we come to the throne of God. We give everything. I’m not going to be concerned about what others think of the way I worship. I’m going to please God! I’m going to give God all the time He wants. I’m just going to stand in His presence and bask in His glory. I’m not holding anything back. I’m giving everything that I am. Lord I don’t care about the cost.
The one thing I like about so many of the newer songs is that they are songs that we are singing directly to Jesus and not just about Jesus.
Draw me close to You, never let me go… I lay it all down again to hear you say that I’m Your friend. Help me find a way- bring me back to You.
Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that you’re my God…
This is the air I breathe – Your holy presence living in me.
And I’m desperate for you, and I ‘m lost without you.
And we cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy is the Lamb.
And we’ll sing it over and over and over for eternity.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun
